MUMBAI: The central government has agreed before the Supreme Court to grant 852 students of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) two opportunities to clear their final examinations and get enrolled with the state and national medical councils. Last year, 239 students admitted to the CPS were left hanging since the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) instructed the college not to admit any students after the post-graduate medical board and the National Medical Commission (NMC) discontinued the courses conducted by the CPS.
Representing the state, attorney general R Venkataramani informed a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan that the MoHFW had consulted with the NMC and other relevant authorities and reached an updated decision in the matter. As a one-time measure, the 852 students enrolled in six fellowship courses, three diploma courses, and one other course, which were discontinued in 2024, will be allowed to appear for final examinations conducted by the CPS after the Apex court grants its permission.
The students will also get a second chance to sit for the exams, two months after their first attempt. Venjkatramani told the court that if they pass, the students will be allowed to hold the degree they have earned from CPS and get registered with the Maharashtra Medical Council and the National Medical Commission as well. These 852 students were enrolled in their respective courses in 2022-2023, a year before the CPS’s courses were discontinued due to non-compliance of certain NMC regulations.
However, in 2024, the MoHFG had written to CPS not to admit any students, and therefore the admissions that had already taken place were deemed “completely illegal” by the central authorities. The Supreme Court, however, requested the central authorities to re-consider the case of 57 students enrolled in 2017-18 for CPS courses, since they had completed their degrees several years back but were still not enrolled in the medical council registers.
In March 2025, the Bombay High Court passed an order where it upheld the discontinuation of courses at CPS and directed the college not to affiliate itself with any hospital or admit any students to its diploma or degree courses without permission from the NMC.
The court’s order came after several others including Dr Suhas Pingle, a former member of the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), filed petitions and Public Interest Litigation (PILs) pointing out that the college was using small, ill-equipped clinics and hospitals as training and teaching hospitals before conferring medical degrees. Pingle’s PIL, filed through advocate VM Thorat, the former president of the state arm of Indian Medical Association, added that the clinics and hospitals affiliated with CPS lacked essential infrastructure, equipment, teaching and non-teaching staff.
The Supreme Court has ordered CPS to submit a list of all the students mentioned by the central authorities and added that the matter will be heard again on December 18.